Abstract
One major source of information on the position of women and the male attitude towards them in early medieval India (
The rich epigraphic and literary sources of early medieval period (c. 800–1200) provide us with an opportunity to explore gender relationships as maintained and viewed contemporaneously.
The influence of Dharmaśāstra is doubtless manifest here, as we find large numbers of inscriptions projecting dharma as the prescribed way of life, based on the belief that it was only with male progeny that dharma and mokśa (liberation) could be achieved. Women were thus set within certain well-defined limits where their importance seemed to lie mainly in providing male progeny. To favour a son over a daughter is a common rule in brahmanical literature; and epigraphs too explicitly proclaim such preference. Large numbers of inscriptions of the early medieval period name such mothers with special respect as were able to bear a male child, whether she belonged to a royal house or the common mass. 1 The inscriptions, indeed, highlight mothers who were able to bear sons. 2 In royal households, only the senior queen who was able to bear a male child could retain her status. 3
In traditional Indian society, motherhood, to be considered worthy, has always implied the bearing of a son.
4
Thus the birth of a son immediately raised the status of the mother.
5
It was in the hope of having a son that polygamy was often recommended. Special donations were thus made at the time of marriages subsequent to the initial one by the husband. A Cola inscription of tenth century from Tanjore recorded a royal gift of land of 3 ma on the occasion of the king’s marriage with his junior queen (Srivama Nilakanti).
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From Bihar, we have an inscription of tenth century from Gaya district that records the gift of an image made by one Gauka, who was one of the wives of Gopalahino, to Apanaka monastery at the time of her marriage with the king.
7
An inscription from Nagaur district in
In a few inscriptions, references occur to both monogamy and bigamy, while defining the lineage of a king.
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Such examples are found also among common families from Rajasthan to Tamilnadu.
17
In Rajasthan, the Jodhpur Stone Inscription of Bauka of
In the pressure to have a son, actual practice went much beyond legal prescriptions. The position of wife altered after she gave birth to a daughter or son in both royal and ordinary households. One of the reasons behind a large number of donations by women was palpably dictated by the hope to obtain a son.
In an inscription of
Feudatories followed their masters. One of the Karnataka inscriptions mentioned the name of Baganabbe who was the senior wife of feudatory Barmayya.
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Two wives were named, namely Prabha and Jamho, of Devagana who was a feudatory under the king Prithvideva as recorded in
Donations, however generous, made on behalf of queens or chief queens should not make us suppose that they were independent persons with command over large properties. Epigraphic records clearly establish that the queens were always under the tutelage of the king while making their donations and had to seek permission for making donation even for a religious purpose. Such approvals indicate restrictions or supervision by the king over his queens. We come across inscriptions (North Arcot dist., Tamil Nadu,
Outside the court too, women could be seen as mothers dependent on their sons. Characteristically, an inscription of
While religion for women seems to be a potent force next to kinship, in Pandya inscriptions, women’s caste identity is also highlighted. 34 Mostly, this is the case when a high caste-status for the wife is claimed. Early Cola and Pallava inscriptions also offer similar instances. 35 These donating wives came from different levels, in position of the wife of a king, prince, minister, brahmana or layman. 36
Besides caste, lineage also appeared as an important appendage for women donors in inscriptions, whether in capacities of wife, daughter or mother. The identity of a wife was sometimes over-shadowed by the description of the lineage, religious affiliation or bravery of the husband. 37 A few historians put it to unconscious, undefined and unacknowledged struggle between priest and woman to retain ascendancy over man; 38 but it seems rather to be the reverse case where both man and priest retained their ascendency over the woman.
Queens with a religious bent of mind were often placed high in the scale of virtue. 39 Adjectives for them flow freely in such inscriptions. 40 The queen mother is perhaps the only woman dignitary who could make donations independently. 41 It was required that a queen-mother should be portrayed as devoted entirely to religion. In such garb, her other capabilities, as a ruler, or regent queen, could be ignored, as, for example, in the case of two queen mothers, Sembiyan Mahadevi and Akkamahadevi. 42
A woman might also be ranked by the status of her male relations. In a twelfth-century inscription from Chamba, reference is made to both the woman donor’s father and father-in-law.
43
Another inscription from Karnataka of
The number of inscriptions where the daughter has been eulogised are of course far fewer as compared to those referring to a son.
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As may be expected adjectives flow more fully in case of a daughter in a royal house than among the commonalty. In every case of dual identity of queen and daughter, her religious identity is traced to her parental home. A father used to feel proud when after her marriage his daughter mentioned his name in donations. The other family was also happy because donations made by a daughter-in-law enhanced their social prestige. There seemed to be an insistence on tracing a woman’s religiosity to her being a daughter or wife.
50
An inscription of
It is clear from the tenor of donative inscriptions that the parental family did not sever its ties with a daughter after her marriage. Rather, whenever a woman donated as wife, her identity as daughter was also often specified.
There is also the sister–brother relationship to be considered. In an inscription from Dharwad of
T.N. Subramaniam suggested that Dharmaśāstras lay down that in Kaliyuga, dāna should be preferred to yajna or sacrifice for merit.
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Donors could then be induced to share in merit through donation with their families. We notice a number of inscriptions in which this is manifest. But strangely enough, we do find certain inscriptions where the woman stands alone. A tenth-century inscription from South Arcot district records the donation of a perpetual lamp by a woman without any further identification beyond her name.
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An inscription of